Campus News

Papers of career federal government official to come to Russell Library

Papers of career federal government official to come to Russell Library

Athens, Ga.- The papers and memorabilia compiled by Powell A. Moore during a Washington career of more than 43 years have a home at the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies at the University of Georgia.
“This is an exciting collection for us in that it covers post World War II world affairs and intersects with so many of our other collections,” said Sheryl Vogt, director of the Russell Library.”Certainly, Mr. Moore’s service with Senator Russell is significant to the library, but his career work with several presidents, including national campaigns, and, in particular, his unique experience in legislative oversight of defense and diplomacy matters will be of tremendous research value.”

A 1959 graduate of UGA, Moore was press secretary for U.S. Sen. Russell from October 1966 until the senator’s death in January 1971.Following his service with Russell, Moore remained active in national and international governmental and political affairs. Most recently, he was the representative of the U.S. Secretary of Defense to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, based in Vienna, Austria.This organization of 56 nations is an outgrowth of the Helsinki Accords of 1975 and is focused on conflict prevention on the Eurasian landmass.Moore held this position from April 2006 until January 2009.

In the first term of the George W. Bush Administration (2001-2005), Moore was the assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs and received the Defense Department’s Medal for Distinguished Public Service for his leadership in this position.He held the comparable position at the Department of State in the first term of President Ronald Reagan (1982-1983), giving him the unique experience of having been both an assistant secretary of defense and an assistant secretary of state.

Moore was on the White House legislative affairs staff under Presidents Nixon and Ford in 1973 and 1974 and under Reagan in 1981.In the first year of the Reagan administration, before transferring to the State Department, he managed the Senate component of the White House legislative affairs office.In this position, he oversaw the Senate confirmation of Reagan’s initial wave of nominees including the confirmation of Sandra Day O’Connor as the first woman associate justice of the United State Supreme Court.

As a government official, Moore has traveled to more than 60 nations and has joined congressional leaders for numerous meetings with heads of state and senior cabinet ministers.

From 1998 until May 2001 when Moore was nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate to be a senior defense official, he was chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee.Thompson was chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs.

Moore’s executive branch experience includes 14 months in 1971 and 1972 as deputy director of public information for the U. S. Department of Justice.

Moore began his federal service in 1959 as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army, where he served more than three and a half years.He was assigned to a combat ready infantry division in Germany for two years and was on duty in Germany when the Berlin Wall was erected in1961.

Moore also has been actively involved in presidential politics.He was a fulltime member of the presidential campaign staffs of Nixon in 1972, Ford in 1976 and Reagan in 1980.He also has worked in a part time, voluntary capacity on the general election campaigns of George H.W. Bush in 1988 and 1992, of Bob Dole in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000, as well as on the South Carolina primary campaign of John McCain in 2000.In addition, he has been a member of the staff providing operational support for eight Republican conventions from 1972 until 2000.

His active involvement in the campaign of Nixon in 1972 led to a requirement that he testify during the Watergate investigations.

In addition to his federal service, Moore has had more than 20 years of experience advising and representing clients on public policy and legislation in Washington.He has worked on a wide variety of issues for a diversity of international clients from Europe and Asia, as well as numerous domestic clients.

Moore was born in Milledgeville on Jan. 5, 1938.He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the university’s Henry Grady College in 1959.He also attended preparatory school at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville.

In 1985, he received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Grady College and in 2008, he was honored as a Grady Fellow.

Moore and his wife, Pamla, live in Washington, D.C. and have two daughters, two sons and six grandchildren.

The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, established in 1974 upon donation of the late senator’s collection, serves as a center for research and study of the modern American political system. With particular emphasis on the role of Georgia and the U. S. Congress, collection development and programming focus on the dynamic relationship of politics, policy, and culture-generated wherever public interest intersects with government. The breadth and depth of Russell Library’s nearly 300 collections provide an interconnected framework of perspectives and experiences for understanding the increasingly diverse people, events, and ideas shaping modern Georgia’s political landscape.

The Russell Library pursues alliances and opportunities for collaboration with individuals and organizations that advance its mission.The Library is a founding member of the Association of Centers for the Study of Congress and a primary partner and official repository for UGA’s Foot Soldier Project for Civil Rights Studies, a collaborative project dedicated to documenting and chronicling the activity and perceptions of lesser known participants in the civil rights movement in Georgia. The Russell Libraryis alsodedicated to developing and presentingpublic programming and educational materials thatfacilitate and encourage research, raise public awareness of the library and its collections and services, and provide learning opportunities for the communities it serves.